Qualifying Welders through D1.1 for Customers

By CAM Date 08-07-2019 19:33 Edited 08-08-2019 11:11

Hello all,

I'm a new engineer who has been tasked with qualifying the welders at my company for structural work. The welders here work on jobs from various customers which may or may not have welding documentation with them, so I'm wondering a few things:

1) What's the best way to qualify welders for potentially a range of positions, joints, and parameter sets dependent on what job comes in?

2) D1.1 4.9.2 says "before preparing mechanical test specimens, the qualification test plate, pipe, or tubing shall be non-destructively tested."
However, I have heard from other professionals that there is an exception which allows you to substitute the test plate for test coupons of the same
base metal group and perform macroetches to prove the validity of the process. Where in D1.1 does it explicitly specify this?

3) If a job comes in from a customer with parameters, is it safe to assume that is it pre-qualified and acceptable to then test the welders using those
parameters?

Thank you in advance for any help you can provide

By Steelslinger (**)

Date 08-07-2019 19:54

1) What's the best way to qualify welders for potentially a range of positions, joints, and parameter sets dependent on what job comes in?

A- First off, you would need prequalified or qualified by testing WPSs. Then, generally in a structural shop, it would be best to use a plate test in both the 3G (Horizontal) and 4G (Vertical, Upward progression) positions as this would qualify welders for all positions. Thickness of test plates would be determined by thicknesses listed on your companies WPSs. Consult AWS D1.1 Clause 4.15

2) D1.1 4.9.2 says "before preparing mechanical test specimens, the qualification test plate, pipe, or tubing shall be non-destructively tested."
However, I have heard from other professionals that there is an exception which allows you to substitute the test plate for test coupons of the same
base metal group and perform macroetches to prove the validity of the process. Where in D1.1 does it explicitly specify this?

A- This pertains to PQRs (Procedure Qualification Record) & WPSs (Weld Procedure Specification). D1.1 Clause 4.9.2.1 and 4.9.2.2 spell out this requirement. As far as the substitution and macroetch, I vaguely remember something pertaining to that, but I cannot comment to what it was or where I saw it at the moment.

3) If a job comes in from a customer with parameters, is it safe to assume that is it pre-qualified and acceptable to then test the welders using those
parameters?

A- That is NOT safe to assume. If the customer has WPSs that they have approved for use, it would be in your best interest to test those WPSs for validity. I believe there is some guidance somewhere for that process, but am at a loss to remember where that is.